TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

Last weekend, your team opened up the season with a 179-74 victory over Siena. You continue with home meets against Miami (OH) and Ball State this weekend. After spending last season studying overseas in Australia, how excited are you to get back into the swing of a competitive swimming season?
The year off served as a good break - especially since it was such a great experience. I was able to swim in Australia and over the summer to keep in shape. But, I've definitely been looking forward to the start of this season for a long time.

What went into your decision to study in Australia for a year?
A while back, I decided that I wanted to study abroad. The only options available for studying in Australia were during the regular school year - there were no summer semester options. In order to go to Australia, I realized I would have to take a year off. I went to my head coach, Dorsi Raynolds, and asked her how she would feel about that. She was really supportive, so that helped a lot in my decision to go ahead with it.

How do you view your entire experience of studying abroad?
It was great. Like I said before, it was something that I thought about for a long time and I was certainly looking forward to it. The experience certainly lived up to what I thought it would be, and it also helped me grow up a lot.

What was the academic atmosphere like in Australia as compared to the United States?
I'm an economics major, so that was primarily what type of classes I took over there. There are some slight differences in the academic approach. The criteria by which they grade is different in some cases, but other than that everything is pretty much the same academically.

How much swimming were you able to do over the course of the year?
I didn't participate in any competitive swimming at all. They had a club team where I was at, so I went to some of their practices and swam with them. They didn't have a whole lot of participation, but it still served as a great experience to work out with that team.

When did the official practices begin for your team this season - and what did the preseason work consist of?
Our captains' practices started the same day that classes began in late August. As far as official practices though, we had a different approach this year. Dorsi had us swimming hard from the beginning, as opposed to an approach where we eased into things at the start with more drills. I feel like the preparation we had throughout the preseason is going to show during the season.

How different are the two strokes you swim - backstroke and freestyle - from a practice standpoint? Which one do you spend more time working on?
You always swim freestyle when you are warming up, so you always have that base. Even if you're not doing a lot of freestyle training, you naturally work on that stroke anyway. With the backstroke, I feel that it requires a lot more focus.

From your perspective, what are the primary differences in competing in an individual event as opposed to a team relay?
I usually try to think about the two in the same sense. You have to try your hardest no matter what race it is. Individual races ultimately earn your team points in the long run, anyhow. Obviously during the relays though, you have a lot of direct support from your teammates.

How much competitive swimming do you watch - and do you wish swimming would catch on a bit more at that level?
There really isn't much to watch. Occasionally you can see some of the World Championships - and even that is mostly shown on the Canadian station. I do wish there was more televised swimming and publicity in general, but unfortunately that's where the sport is at right now.

Do you plan to stay involved in swimming after this year?
I would love to get involved in coaching. During my break last year, I was able to do a little bit of that. But other than that, this year may be it.

-The "10 Questions with…" feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.